Game Recap Packers/Bears

Fake FG was the key to this game. It was a call that took courage by Slocum/McCarthy and these coaches absolutely deserve credit for creating momentum for the Packers in an otherwise momentum-less game. This single play turned the game.

Very pleased with this victory. This was a high pressure situation – a loss and the Pack would have been serious trouble. Tonight the defense in particular stepped up.

Cutler is eating his words from earlier this week. Just so stupid to publicly taunt like that – especially when his record against the Pack is historically so bad.

Bears came out tonight kind of like how the Packers came out Sunday. They just seemed unprepared and they never woke up. Interestingly, that’s exactly how the Bears started Sunday too – early on it looked like Indy was going to destroy them because they were so out of sync. Though in that game, they woke up.

I like that we got Benson going in this one. Just key to get him into games going forward. He looks fresh and he ran well tonight. He also had a couple nice receptions. Also nice to have a back who can run out a game.

Loved that Driver got a TD tonight.

What happened to Randall Cobb. He disappeared in the second half. He is a match-up nightmare who should get the ball often. I do like that McCarthy worked him into the running game some there. Just gives us a different look and importantly, out of the backfield, he gives the defense something else to worry about. Great coaching by McCarthy to work Cobb into the offense like he has.

Mathews is tremendous. What a phenomenal game.

James Jones sometimes is just not all there mentally. Even before the replays, it was evident live that he had fouled up that route. His idea was not a bad one – fake in and go deep – but 1) that wasn’t the route and 2) if that’s not the route, then that’s the kind of thing you do on a broken play.

I’m also not seeing much from Nick Perry so far. With Mathews commanding attention, Perry should be making more noise on the opposite side. Erik Walden has actually been more disruptive this year than Perry.

The Pack could have some trouble with teams committed to the run this year. I don’t feel like this defense, as well as they played tonight, is great against the run (especially without Desmond Bishop in there).

The Packers were ready tonight. They weren’t messing around and they just came out and got the job done. I’m pleased and believe this should really help this team spring forward.

The next game should be really tough. I do not like Seattle in Seattle – they are a quickly improving team in a brutal environment. We need to be ready for Game 3 like we were for tonight’s game.

I need to give some love to the punter. Not for his pass but for his punting. What an outstanding game he punted tonight. Took Hester out of the game and flipped field position consistently. I smell a pro bowl for this kid.

What an amazing performance by that defense! First time they held an opponent under 200 total yards since week 2 of 2010 (Bills @ GB).

Also the second 4+ sack game of the season — only had one all of 2011.

The offense kinda stunk, though. J.Nelson, C.Benson, and R.Cobb were the only players with more than 48 yards from scrimmage. That’s going to have to change.

As for the Seahawks–Russell Wilson looked a lot more like a rookie QB on Sunday (18/35 153 1 1). Our secondary should be able to hold him in check. On the other hand, assuming he’s healthy, the defense can expect a heavy dose of Marshawn Lynch, so yeah, run D is gonna be a key factor…

Could I just suggest that Nick Perry might be having an indirect impact? It struck me while watching the game, and I commented about it at the time, that Nick Perry might deserve some credit for the rejuvenation of Matthews (Worthy might get some of the credit, too). There was an obvious problem with the defense last year. We took defenders on the first 6 picks of the draft. Now Matthews has 6 sacks in 2 games, equaling his 2011 total. Coincidence? I am guessing it is not.

Eric Walden has, as I recall reading, added 10-12 lbs over the off season. Last year he demonstrated effective pass rushing ability, but the knock on him was he wasn’t big / strong enough to hold the point against the rush. With his added bulk he will likely be an effective OLB for us.

I don’t mean any disrespect by saying this, but why are posts on this blog so few and far between now? This used to be the website I came to first for news and updates, but now there is rarely anything posted. What happened?

Josh – thank you for being a reader first of all – and no disrespect taken here at all. I myself regret not posting more content more often. I’m in grad school, working full-time and we recently had a second kid, so I don’t have as much time as I did before. But the fact is, I have been trying to figure out how to carve out more time to post stuff. I miss the exchanges with readers. I’m working on it (had even drafted comments on Tom Silverstein’s column this morning, but haven’t had a chance to publish…)